The Future of Game Design, Pt. 1

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Things we'd love to see in the next generation of games.

By Douglass C. Perry

Not too long ago most of us were playing our PlayStations, N64s, and Saturns, and as the looming generation of systems came our way, we wondered how games would look. What were those systems going to bring us? Better graphics? Obviously. Better AI? Well, we hoped. Bigger worlds, faster load times, more realism? Certainly. But what else? With rosy eyes we wondered what we would happen. And what happened was very different than what most of us expected.

The jump from 32-bit systems to 128-bit systems did usher in a great new realm of possibilities. We did get more realistic sports games. We did get great big environments. We did play in more interactive worlds. But in many ways, we were disappointed. The jump in interactive storytelling, the upgrade to AI, and the lack of realism, among other things, were still letdowns. On a side note, I don't think anyone would have predicted that open-design games such as Grand Theft Auto, sandbox games such as Battlefield 1942, and innovative customizable games such as Deus Ex would be such huge influences on the future of game design.

So, here we are on the cusp of the next generation of systems. What's going to happen? Where will we go? What will the best and most creative minds bring the always hungry, always surprising gaming public? I've thought about it and spoken with other editors at IGN about what we'd like to see in the next generation of games and these are a few of our ideas. This list isn't about hardware, tech specs, polygons, or whether we should use Blu-Ray or not. It's about game ideas. It's about how we'd like to see videogames evolve and where we'd like them to go.

The Obvious Stuff

Intelligent Artificial Intelligence The biggest disappointment in this generation of games has to be the lack of innovation in artificial intelligence. There have been little breakthroughs: Platformers now feature enemy AI leaving their little cone of defense and chasing you around an environment; AI recognizes various levels of danger (just watch the enemies in MGS3); and AI gangs congregate to slaughter you (Manhunt). There are hundreds more little improvements, but also hundreds more complaints. And after every game we beat, we wonder why the AI wasn't better.

Half-Life 2

In driving games, for instance, developers should look to Burnout: Takedown to see why super aggressive AI is actually fun and teaches you to take chances and improve your skill level. In first-person shooters, developers should look to Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 for ideas on how to improve fluid, independent AI behavior. AI should react intelligently to you. It should recognize that you have a bazooka aimed at its head and duck and cover. It should call out to allies and call for back up, use team-behavior to flank, suppress, and attack you. AI should make you think, trap you and set you up for failure, forcing players to think about the game design, patterns, and environment. It should do the things humans are doing now in games, so that when we play next-generation games, we should feel like we're playing against smart humans. Not slightly improved bots. AI should react locally to gun shots: Individual body parts should react with real physics (if shot by a shotgun, a limb should blow apart; if shot by a small handgun, it should bleed but not as severely as when hit by a sniper rifle or a shotgun), and blood and gibs; AI should wince in pain when shot, and it grab particular body parts. Even Virtua Cop did this back in the day. AI should react in a way that's believable, with some sort of intelligence.

Wanted: A Real Emotion Engine Ugh, the Emotion Engine. What a disappointment. Sure, I've played games in which I felt intense emotions besides fear, anxiety, rage, and excitement. But not that many. There were a few levels in Medal of Honor: Frontline that opened up that emotional box of wonder amazement, and perhaps a glimmer of the chaos and destruction of World War II was like. Ico did a superb job of digging down internally. The Silent Hill games injected a whole new level of fear and surreal uneasy feelings in me. I've been told that Final Fantasy and KOTOR delivered on giving gamers something to care about and feel for, but for the most part, those games are exceptions to the rule. The only thing is, in order to create real emotion in games you have to create characters people care about, write stories that deal with real world emotions (or even science fiction story scenarios that deal with the nature of life and death), and show characters show can convey that emotion like those in Half-Life 2. I'll approach those ideas below.

Art Direction Shifting direction just a little bit, we need better art direction in our games. Not just more polygons or slicker textures, but games with a better sense of visual style. Off the top of my head, one of the first games that really showed a distinct sense of art direction and style in this generation of games was Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. That game oozed with style, and even though it was simple and quick, it became one of my favorites because the main character, Sly, had real character. He wasn't some fuzzy-ass thing with pointed ears and an attitude. He was a smart, slick thief, and a raccoon no less. Not so strangely it worked.

Sly Cooper

Ico, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, Tron 2.0: Killer App, Halo 2, and all of the Grand Theft Auto games delivered great styles, all of which were different and unique to their properties. Former Naughty Dog President Jason Ruben once said that the amount of polygons you have on screen doesn't matter anymore, it's what's you do with them. He is often right, and on this point, he is dead on.